Community Christian Church Podcast

Our kids are being formed every day by screens, schedules, and the crowd. The question isn’t whether they’re being shaped. It’s what’s shaping them.In Week 6 of Fight the Good Fight, Downers Grove Community Pastor Aaron Loy opens Deuteronomy 6, Psalm 78, and Ephesians 6 to show how faith passes from one generation to the next. It happens through everyday rhythms and warm, steady presence, not pressure. This is a message for parents and for everyone else, because every kid needs more adults in their corner. And it ends with good news for tired parents: you are not your kid’s savior. Jesus is, and he’s been fighting for your kids a lot longer than you have.This week, ask yourself: Which kid in my life am I actually showing up for?Scripture: Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Psalm 78:1-8; Ephesians 6:4

What if, while we’re busy fighting everything out there, we’re losing the battle for what’s happening in here?In Week 5 of Fight the Good Fight, Teaching Pastor Chris Nichols talks about the fight every follower of Jesus faces every day: the fight for your inner life. In a season full of noise, outrage, and uncertainty, Chris walks through Romans 12, Proverbs 4, and Philippians 4. He shows how to resist being conformed by the voices competing for your attention, how to guard the heart that everything else flows from, and how to receive the peace of God that guards us even when we don’t know how things will turn out.Peace doesn’t come from getting the outcome you want. It’s God’s gift in the middle of not knowing.Scripture: Romans 12:1-2; Proverbs 4:23; Philippians 4:6-8

Most marriages don’t collapse overnight. They drift, slowly and then all at once. So how do you fight for a marriage when the biggest threat might be something you can’t see happening?In Week 4 of Fight the Good Fight, Teaching Pastor Chris Nichols walks through Ephesians 5 and Paul’s surprising vision for marriage. It isn’t a contest for control. It’s a shared surrender to the way of Jesus. Chris talks about mutual submission, fighting for your spouse’s flourishing, letting go of the need to win, and the hard, worthwhile work of becoming one. Married or not, this message is about becoming the kind of person who loves like Jesus.This week’s challenge: ask your spouse, “On a scale of 1 to 10, where are we?” and “What would make it one number higher?”Scripture: Ephesians 5:21-33; Genesis 2:24

Why do so many of us end the day doom scrolling, feeling emptier than when we started? Lead Pastor Ted Coniaris suggests it’s because our culture let go of truth. And even those of us who believe it can still drift from it.In Week 3 of Fight the Good Fight, Ted opens John 8, John 14, and Jude. He invites us to make our home in the truth of Jesus’ teaching, to remember that truth has a face, and to contend for the faith without contempt. The world doesn’t need us to win more arguments. It needs people who live in the truth long enough to offer it as a gift, with the same grace and truth Jesus showed.This week’s challenge: when the 11pm moment comes, trade ten minutes of scrolling for ten minutes in God’s Word.Scripture: John 8:31-32; John 14:6; Jude 3-4

Most of us aren’t trying to hurt anyone. But somewhere along the way, we started aiming our energy at the people around us, and then wondered why we feel so angry, anxious, and afraid.In Week 2 of Fight the Good Fight, Lead Pastor Ted Coniaris opens Ephesians 6 to show us who we’re really up against. “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood.” Ted unpacks how to know your enemy, recognize his tactics, and stand your ground. The enemy works through the lies of temptation (“It’s no big deal”) and accusation (“It’s too big of a deal”). The armor of God is what God has already provided to help us stand, and we’re meant to stand together.Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-18; 1 Peter 5:8; John 8:44

We're not tired because we've been fighting too hard. We're tired because we've been fighting the wrong battles.John Ciesniewski launches our new series, Fight the Good Fight, with a sobering story of friendly fire and a question for the church in a divided season: what happens when we turn our weapons on each other? Lead Pastor Ted Coniaris then talks with Founding Pastor Dave Ferguson about what Ephesians 4 and John 17 teach us about unity. They cover why churches split over secondary things, how unity differs from uniformity, and what it really costs to choose unity over being right.Unity doesn't mean silencing disagreement. It means refusing to let anything matter more than our shared allegiance to Jesus. This week, reach out to one person you have tension with, just to say, "You matter to me."Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-6; John 17:20-23

In 1980, Rosie Ruiz crossed the Boston Marathon finish line first, medal and all — until it turned out she'd skipped most of the race. Anybody can claim first place. But the claim can be tested.Most of us would say God comes first in our lives. But God has been testing that claim since the very beginning. In the final message of FIRST, Lead Pastor Ted Coniaris returns to the very first offering in Scripture — Cain and Abel in Genesis 4 — and shows why one gift pleased God and the other didn't. It was never about the size of the gift. It was about whether it said "you are first" or "here's what's left." Ted closes the series with the Big Rocks illustration, a personal story of God's provision, and a final invitation to the 90-Day Tithing Challenge as we launch the last 90-day sprint to the finish line of New is Now.Scripture: Genesis 4:1–7; Exodus 34:14; Matthew 6:21; Philippians 2:9–11; Exodus 23:19; Malachi 3:10; 2 Corinthians 9:7Thank you for listening to the full FIRST series with us.

A widow. An empty jar. A prophet who asks her not what she needs, but what she already has. It's an odd place to start a conversation about money — but it's exactly where this week's message begins.For three weeks, FIRST has asked whether God is actually first in our lives. This week, Chris Nichols walks into the room most of us avoid the longest — our finances — and makes the case that tithing was never really about money. It's about trust. Along the way, Lead Pastor Ted Coniaris shares a short video, "Simple Math," that makes the concept about as clear as it gets: the first, not the leftover. The message closes with an invitation to a 90-Day Tithing Challenge, with a simple guarantee behind it: if God doesn't show up, you get every dollar back.Scripture: 2 Kings 4:1–7; Malachi 3:6–12; Proverbs 3:9–10; Romans 11:36; Deuteronomy 8:18; Leviticus 27:30; Matthew 23:23; Matthew 6:21Subscribe to follow along with the full FIRST series.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart…and love your neighbor as yourself.” — Luke 10:27In this final meditation, Sharie Behnke invites us to allow the love we have received from God to move outward toward others. Through Scripture, reflection, and prayer, we’ll consider Jesus’ challenging question from the story of the Good Samaritan: What does it mean to become a neighbor?We’ll reflect on the people we naturally love, those we often overlook, and even those we find difficult to love. Jesus invites us to see beyond our differences without abandoning wisdom or healthy boundaries—to recognize the humanity and image of God in others.As this five-day journey concludes, we remember where it began: We love because God first loved us. May that love give us eyes to notice, compassion to respond, and courage not simply to ask, “Who is my neighbor?” but to become one.Narrator: Sharie BehnkeTake your next step at communitychristian.org.As we move toward the IGNITE Gathering, find more resources, gathering times, and ways to engage here.

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” — Mark 12:31We often understand what it means to care for others, yet struggle to offer ourselves that same patience, kindness, and grace. In this guided Lectio Divina, Jon Hughes invites us to slow down and listen deeply to Jesus’ words: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”Through Scripture, silence, reflection, and prayer, we’ll consider how we speak to ourselves, especially when we make mistakes, fall short, or encounter parts of ourselves we find difficult to accept. Rather than ignoring where we need to grow, we’ll practice seeing ourselves through the eyes of God’s grace—as loved, known, imperfect, and still being formed.As we learn to receive God’s compassion for ourselves, we become better able to extend that compassion to others. Come ready to listen, receive grace, and discover how loving yourself can create more room to love your neighbor well.Narrator: Jon HughesTake your next step at communitychristian.org.As we move toward the IGNITE Gathering, find more resources, gathering times, and ways to engage here.